Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 4,676, settled in 1865.
Cortland grades C overall, 566th of 767 graded towns in Illinois, with clear strengths and some subjects that lag. Crime is low: it reports less per resident than 76% of U.S. towns and natural-hazard risk is low. On the other side, its schools rank behind 84% of the state's. 7.9% of residents are 65 or older in Cortland, below both the Illinois town median (19%) and the median of U.S. towns (18%).
Where Cortland beats most towns.
Where Cortland’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Illinois), ordered by how far Cortland is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 953 in 1880, a low of 207 in 1910, 4,398 in 2020. The archive holds 2 old photos and papers going back to 1943 and 3 maps from 1937 on.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Cortland, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Sep 12, 2025.
Ordered by what stands out in Cortland.
Cortland has home values climbing faster than Illinois’s and has added half again as many jobs in ten years.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Jobs based here grew from 620 in 2013 to 1,000.
Most working residents leave Cortland for work: only 2% work in town. Jobs based in Cortland grew to 1,000 in 2023, 380 more than in 2013. The top destinations are DeKalb (15%), Sycamore (10%) and Aurora (4%).
| Cortland | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 2% | 8.4% | 8% |
| Below the poverty line | 7% | 8.4% | 9.6% |
| Work from home | 9.6% | 11% | 11% |
| Median household income | $74,000 | $83,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Cortland beats the Illinois average on 7 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 4. 22% of adults binge drink in Cortland.
| Cortland | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 22% | 18% | 16% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 35% | 35% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 74% | 78% | 79% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 8.7% | 11% | 12% |
| What stands out | Cortland | IL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults with heart disease | 4% | 5.9% |
| Fewer adults who have had a stroke | 2.3% | 3.3% |
| More binge drinkers | 21.8% | 17.8% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 74% of U.S. communities. One flood insurance claim has been paid in Cortland since 2007.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Cortland has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 83°, January nights drop to 14° and about 33 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
0.4 miles of trail in 6 parks and preserves. Cortland’s trail density is 0.1 miles per square mile.
| Cortland | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 1.5% | 3.7% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Cortland Park | 0.2 mi | 13 |
| 2. Suppeland Park | — | 7 |
| 3. Lions Park | — | 6 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Home values rose 48% in five years, to about $296K, against 30% across Illinois. 78% of renter households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, against 47.9% across Illinois.
The typical Cortland home is worth about $296,000, up 5.6% in a year, close to the Illinois typical home. The median rent in Cortland is $1,552 a month.
| Cortland | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,552 a month | $1,128 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 78% | 75% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Cortland. Close and well known come first.
22 mi MuseumIllinois Railway Museum
3 mi TheatreEgyptian Theatre, DeKalb
33 mi MuseumMorton Arboretum
3 mi MuseumEllwood House
31 mi Stadium & arenaBMO Center
25 mi Theme parkSanta's Village Amusement & Water ParkIllinois Railway Museum: The original uploader was Slambo at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 2.0 · Egyptian Theatre, DeKalb: Andy McMurray, CC BY 2.5 · Morton Arboretum: Bruce Marlin, CC BY-SA 2.5 · Ellwood House: Paul R. Burley, CC0 · BMO Center: SimLibrarian, CC0 · Santa's Village Amusement & Water Park: Martin Lewison from The Hague, Zuid-Holland, The Netherlands, CC BY-SA 2.0
2 within 15 miles of the center of Cortland
About 6 of every 100 Cortland residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Illinois.
3 notable people were born in Cortland.
Town in Illinois, United States
Cortland is an incorporated town in DeKalb County, Illinois, United States. The population was 4,398 at the 2020 Census. It was previously 4,270 at the 2010 census, up from 2,066 in 2000. Because of its status as an incorporated town, Cortland has adopted the slogan, "The Third Largest Town in Illinois". Only the towns of Cicero and Normal are larger, in terms of population. Most municipalities in Illinois are defined as "cities" or "villages."
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
One town shares a border with Cortland.
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Cortland grades C overall, better than 35% of U.S. towns and #566 of 767 in Illinois. It grades B+ for health, A− for safety and C− for schools. Schools is its weak spot, with a C−.
Yes. That is 3.3 years of the area's median household income ($90,887 across the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN metro area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C−.
3 notable people were born here, including Albert J. Hopkins and Charles Williams Nash.
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